Panicked pattern queuing

by exercisebeforeknitting

Nothing gets me more panicked about knitting for my kids than July and August. The school year approaches, you know! What’s that? You say my kids aren’t in school yet? Hm, yes, well there is that. However, as many of you know, I will begin medical school in less than a month, so at least one of us has to prepare for the school year. As you might expect, I feel a bit panicked about losing my knitting time; naturally, I’m spending my last month of freedom planning lots and lots of projects!* I must remind myself that because I knit while I study, August 2010 does not mark the end of my knitting days. Whatever you do, please do not leave a comment asking how I will ever knit again, OK? Thanks.

Despite my impending lack of time, I have been planning what I will make for my kids this year. I thought I would share my ideas with you. For Beatrix, I would like to cast on for a Morgan’s Flower Garden by Amy Herzog.

Copyright Amy Herzog

Everything is red with Beatrix these days, so I will probably have to change the main color to appease her. Although the pattern calls for Cascade 220, I intend to use some Berroco Ultra Alpaca bits floating about in my stash. With shrinking knitting time, I need to make sure what I knit for the kids is both cute and functional; this definitely fits the bill.

For Odysseus, I hope to make an Ella Funt by Pamela Wynne before Chubby outgrows the pattern sizes. Perhaps I should get started on this first, since my tubby seven-month-old is already 22 lbs. He wears things for a week before outgrowing them.

Copyright Pamela Wynne

The pattern calls for sport-weight yarn, and boy, do I have sport-weight scraps! In fact, my stash seems to be comprised almost exclusively of them. I am somewhat embarrassed to admit I have only made one sweater for little Oin his life and I made it before he was born. That is to say, of course, it doesn’t count. The little man needs some woolens for the winter when his mama is away in the anatomy lab, don’t you think?

Finally, I’m planning grumperina’sBudgie Striped Sweater for sometime this fall/winter. Isn’t it adorable? True, I am a sucker for anything striped, but the zipper is what makes it a very useful, day-to-day garment. Once they start teething, little babies tug every button in sight to get it into their little mouths, which is dangerous for them and disastrous for their sweaters.

Copyright grumperina

Stacey recently sent me some of her own handspun, and it is burning a hole in my stash. I have never used handspun, and this stuff is gorgeous. I only worry about selecting the wrong project and wasting it! It would look great with this pattern, but a baby sweater might be a waste of handspun, don’t you think?

Like grumperina, so many of my friends and relations are expecting babies right now. I feel like my list of baby standard sweaters has dwindled to a few about which I’m not terribly excited. It’s time to shake things up a bit and find some new go-to baby knits. I think both Ella Funt and Budgie will fill the void.

I’ve also been swatching a little bit on my own for some baby items, playing around with gauge and color values, but I have not yet found anything I must knit.

What baby and kid patterns excite you?

*This can only fail.

Like this:

LikeLoading...

Related

15 Comments to “Panicked pattern queuing”

Hooray for baby knits! I have yet to find the right recipient for the second Budgie (green + burgundy), and O. can totally have it if it will fit him during the fall + winter. The chest is 22.5″ around – let me know!

I loved knitting Morgan’s Flower Garden … Amy’s patterns are so well-written, and WB wore her sweater all last spring, and is so teensy — just 5 pounds bigger than Odysseus, and she’ll be three in September — that I’m hoping she’ll be in it this fall, too.

I’m currently knitting DROPS pattern #18-10 as a gift, and if I manage to regain my mojo, want to make a few more sweaters for WB: a Mendocino jacket, Kate Gilbert’s “Roo”, and “Grows Like a Weed”, by a designer whose name escapes me at the moment. :)

I just went to my ravelry queue … there’s a lot of stuff in there I’d forgotten about but now want to cast on for immediately. So much knitting, so little time.

You completely made my day! I have twin boy nephews who will be celebrating their first birthday this august and I have been seeking the perfect knit cardigan…and Budgie is the winner! (I’m surprised by the lack of classic, attractive baby-sized and boy oriented cardigans on Ravelry….)

Good luck on Med school, you must be so excited! Beginning a new adventure is always so thrilling. Kudos to you!

Just wanted to let you know that as a mother, and a med student I can still find some time for knitting. And with exciting projects like these, I’m sure you will be able to perfect the art of knitting while studying. :-)

Good luck with the knits and the medical school. Baby knits are such quick satisfying projects.
I can’t imagine the med school course load with small children, but having worked 2 demanding part time jobs during my first year and a half of medical school might equate. :) Study hard.

Knitting in class, you can do it. Trust me. I wish I’d been a knitter in medical school. We had a class-run subscription note-taking service, so somebody was always taping the class for later transcription. Half the class didn’t even go to lectures, the other half was reading the newspaper in the back row. Knitting probably would have kept me awake.

Good luck for med school! As a mother of five and full time anesthesiologist, I still have to find time for knitting, otherwise I’d go nuts. I’m never on call on Mondays, since that’s my knitting group evening! Enjoy every minute of it, it’s the most intersting and fascinating course available for study. It’s even useful when you become a real doctor! (Some of it anyway!)All the best.

First time commenter here.
Knitting in class will totally keep you awake and make you a better student (keeps your mind from wandering). It’ll be great. Just plan lots of small projects with easy patterns. Budgie looks pretty much perfect.
And the nice thing about handspun is that there’s more where it came from, especially when it’s used well. Absolutely use it for kids!

[…] or not I just wanted to crunch the numbers and make my own…but then I was reminded of Budgie on Elinor’s blog who plans to knit one herself. How fabulous! I adore Grumperina’s attention to fine detail […]

as a current medical student, knitting is what keeps me sane. Granted I don’t have any kidlets at home but I do have 2 high needs border collies and a partner that always seems to need my attention!

DOn’t let the ‘stress’ of medical school get into your brain. THere is always time to make for the things you love and still do well. You’re going to be surrounded by crazy people who make you think that you must study every minute of everyday and they are WRONG. being healthy and happy will make you a way better doctor than studying things that you won’t remember a week after the exam. Just remember that everything that’s important you’ll re-learn about a dozen times! TAKE TIME FOR YOU (and your fam! AND YOUR KNITTING!)